In most cases sports facilities are surrounded by a fence aimed at limiting the sport activity area and avoiding the intrusion of unauthorised users. Typically, the fence consists of a series of posts arranged at regular distances apt to support a protection mesh.
The rigidity of the posts conventionally used in the building industry in certain cases has been a cause of traumas due—during operation—to an athlete's direct and involuntary impact against one of the posts. Understandably, this kind of problem has occurred, and has remarkable importance, especially in those plants where children are present, both due to their greater fragility, and to the lesser motor ability in agonistic activity.
In order to improve safety, and reduce accidents, posts provided with resilient properties have been manufactured, that is, posts provided with means apt to guarantee a controlled deformation limited in the vertical plane with a defined degree of rigidity, and to allow the independent return thereof into the original position.
In the past various devices have been used. For example, FR1482473 discloses a tripartite post, wherein the intermediate element is made of rubber, to guarantee the oscillation of the element connected thereto above.
However, this kind of post—due to the very nature of the material it is made of—cannot guarantee any certainty on the oscillation direction, with the consequent risk that the effect of a similar solution is counterproductive. As a matter of fact, since no protection system from (desired or undesired) outside stresses can be expected, the risk that athletes are victims of an unexpected and undesired oscillation of one or more fence posts leads to look for alternative solutions.
In particular, for the post to be able to guarantee the required safety, it is necessary that the oscillation be exclusively one-directional, and specifically from the inside to the outside of the activity area. The need is therefore felt to accomplish a fencing post which is able to undergo a temporary deformation seconding the impact force according to a single direction.
Moreover, it has been detected that the prior-art posts apt to reduce the impact effect have the further disadvantage of having a limited effect in the impact absorption.
It is thus felt the further need to find solutions which may reduce the impact effect, increasing instead the motion amount absorbed by the impact.
The object of the present invention is therefore to accomplish a fencing post which is capable of seconding along a single motion direction the impact due to a moving body, contextually reducing the traumatic effect due to the impact, without any deformation from outside the fencing being possible.
Said object is achieved through a fencing support structure consisting of a base made up of a bottom plate from which a box body projects open on one side which houses and supports a fencing post, characterised in that in said structure horizontal and rotational displacement means of said post with respect to said base are provided as well as adjustment means of the horizontal sliding motion and rotation means of said post with respect to said base.
In particular, said horizontal displacement and rotation means consist of hinging means passing through horizontal eyelets provided on the lateral parallel walls of the box body and kept in engagement with said pest. Equally, the adjustment means of the horizontal and rotation motion consist of horizontal and vertical spring means, kept in steady engagement with said base and said post, respectively.